^'°''i9l0^^^] Recent Ldteralure. 475 



association with John James Audubon in the preparation of his great 

 work on the Birds of North America. The story of this relationship has 

 often been told, but never with the fullness and detail here given. As is 

 well Tvnown, Audubon was indebted to MacGillivray for his classification 

 and nomenclature, and it is here stated MacGillivray himself wrote the 

 ' Synopsis,' published in 1839. 



The author of the present work, a namesake of the great naturalist, 

 says in the introduction: "No detailed biography of Professor MacGilli- 

 vray has ever been written, and the materials for such do not now exist. 

 From an early period he kept careful journals of his life and work, and from 

 these a biography of great interest and value could have been compiled; 

 but unfortunately all but two volumes were accidentally destroyed by fire 

 in Australia many years ago. I recently discovered that two volumes in 

 MacGillivray's neat and careful handwriting remained in the possession 

 of the family of the late Dr. Paul MacGillivray, an eminent surgeon in 

 Australia, son of the Professor, and having been allowed the privilege of 

 perusing them, I shall make use of them freely in the following narra- 

 tive." These relate to his residence and travels in the Hebrides, from Au- 

 gust 3, 1817, to August 13, 1818, and to a journey in Scotland and England 

 in 1819. Copious extracts are given from these precious volumes in the 

 present work. 



William MacGillivray was born in 1796, in Aberdeen, the son of a sur- 

 geon in the army, who lost his life at the battle of Corunna in January-, 

 1809, when William was thirteen years old. His boyhood days were spent 

 with relatives on the island of Harris, returning to Aberdeen for his further 

 education when twelve years old, and after finishing his course at King's 

 College began the study of medicine. The fifty-six years of MacGilli- 

 vray's life are divided in the present narrative into five periods. The first 

 includes his boyhood on the island of Harris; the second, his university 

 life at Aberdeen; the third, the "Edinburgh Period," from his marriage 

 in 1820 to 1831; the fourth, his conservatorship at the Museum of the 

 Edinburgh College of Surgeons (1831-1841), which covers the preparation 

 of the earlier volumes of his 'History of British Birds' and his work with 

 Audubon; the fifth, his professonship in Marischal College and University 

 at Aberdeen (1841-1852). These five chapters form the first 113 pages 

 of the present volume, and are followed by an appreciative chapter on his 

 scientific work (pp. 114-158) by Professor Thomson, of Aberdeen Uni- 

 versity, and by extracts from MacGillivray's works (pp. 159-214), illus- 

 trative of his attainments as an all-round naturahst and his fine traits 

 of character. The text is appropriately illustrated with twelve half-tone 

 plates, eight of which are reproductions of some of MacGillivray's drawings 

 of birds, now in the British Museum; others give a view of King's College, 

 Aberdeen, of the gateway at Marischal College, a winter scene in the 

 Chanoury, Old Aberdeen, where MacGillivray lived for a time, and a 

 facsimile" of a letter written by MacGillivray in 1834, now in the collection 

 of Mr. Ruthven Deane, and loaned for use in the present connection. 



